The Collection, which dates from the 1830s-1970s, holds over 1.25 million documents and details the design, construction and maintenance of ships classed by LR. Through survey reports, ship plans and handwritten correspondence, the collection highlights the important role LR has played in the development of marine safety.
Deep in an archive storage facility in Woolwich, London, sits a treasure trove of 1,133 port boxes, from Aberdeen to Yokohama. The contents of each box can vary. Most of them will hold a selection of survey reports; periodical surveys carried out by Lloyd’s Register surveyors that include information on a ship’s build, dimensions, owner, classification and voyage. But a plethora of other document types are often found. Telegrams, memos, forms, certificates, photographs and ship plans also reside in the collection; highlighting the sheer diversity of the collection’s holdings and educational value. As the Ship Plan and Survey Report Collection has never been catalogued before, the Heritage & Education Centre are frequently uncovering never before seen documents.
Many famed ships are included in the collection such as Cutty Sark, Mauretania and Dunedin, as well as ships that were the first of their kind, including Fullagar (the world’s first fully-welded ocean-going ship) and Bakuin (one of the first modern tankers ever built). The remarkable documents held within the archive also depict the work and life of LR surveyors and their frequent dealings with shipbuilders and shipowners.
Currently more than 238,000 documents covering 45,000 ships are available to
view and download, for free, on the Centre’s website. With a global audience spanning over 190 countries worldwide, the digitised collection is a unique resource that is being used by maritime historians, economists, linguists, ship model enthusiasts and family historians.
The digitised collection reinforces the Centre’s commitment to open access
for the Heritage & Education Centre’s resources while also enhancing public understanding in marine and engineering science and history.
Ahead of the next digitised document upload, the Heritage & Education Centre team have selected three interesting items from the collection.
This image from 1923 illustrates the damage caused to the US oil tanker J. N. Pew following a gas explosion in her no. 4 tank. Towed to the yard of the Sun Shipbuilding Co, Chester, Philadelphia, these photographs document the scale of the damage while under repair. The explosion was heard over 13 miles away, waking up O. Narbeth, the Philadelphia Surveyor, as he slept in his bed!


The Magdalena was a refrigerated passenger liner, built in 1948 by Harland & Wolff, their first to be constructed after the end of the Second World War. Intended for service between the UK and east coast of South America, Magdalena was wrecked off Brazil on her maiden voyage. All passengers and crew were saved; her insurance payout (£2,295,000) became the largest for any marine casualty in British history at the time.